Just Two Kids, You and I
by sebastian2017
Summary: Octavius is four when he moves to America, eight when he falls in love, thirteen when he realizes it, and seventeen when he acts on it. Or the story of how Jed and Octy grow up together.
1. Dared Ya To Kiss Me,Ran When You Tried

Octavius is four when he moves to America. His father, the only thing keeping his mother in Italy, has just died and so, his grandmother has offered her home to her daughter and grandchildren. What follows is a mess of paperwork that Octavius doesn't quite understand that all leads up to the worst plane ride Octavius has ever taken. His sister Tavi has spent the entire taxi ride over to the airport crying to their mother about how she doesn't want to go, how she wants to stay here in Rome where all her friends are. Octavius thinks she's a bit silly. This is all just part of some grand adventure.

Later, Octavius cries as the plane is leaving and he sees his home get left behind and again as the plane lands and he sees American soil for the first time in his life.

Octavius is still crying, clinging to his mother's leg as they make it through impossibly long lines and endless questions in a language that he doesn't understand and his mother stumbles through. His Nana comes to pick them up and he switches from crying on his mother's leg to crying to his grandmother. Tavi is sulking next to their mother, making her displeasure incredibly clear. Octavius hardly pays her any mind as he cries to his Nana about how he wanted to go back home.

"Oh, my little August." Nana murmurs. Octavius is too exhausted, from his crying and from the plane ride, to remind her that no one, _no one_ called him August any more. That was his Papa's name and no one called him by his Papa's name except for his mother and grandmother. Right now, Octavius was too tired of everything to argue as his Nana cooed the _wrong_ name and hugged him. "You're going to love it here, August. I promise. One of our neighbors has a little boy right around your age! You two are going to be fast friends, I'm sure."

Octavius huffed, still crying as his mother put him in the car and strapped him into his car seat. "I don't care. I wanna go _home_."

He and Tavi whined incessantly on the car ride to his grandmother's home, despite their mother insisting that they were going to grow to love it here. When they get to Nana's house, his mother sits him down in front of the TV with _Hercules_ – his absolute favorite movie in the world – playing. Eventually, he grows tired of his crying and falls asleep with the movie playing in the background.

Octavius sleeps through the night, too tired from the jetlag to get up even for dinner. When he gets up the next morning, for the briefest of moments, he thinks he's in his old bed in his old house back in his home. Not this new country that he wanted to leave, no matter how much his mother insisted he was going to love it. He pouts all the way through breakfast and even more when his mother insists he go out to play in the yard. Normally, he loved going out, but that was back home with all his friends. Not here where he has no friends. Even Tavi refuses to come out to play with him and he's let just kicking a ball around all by himself.

Eventually, Octavius just sits down with a huff, resting his chin on his hands as he stared out at the cars driving along the road. That distracts him enough that he's genuinely startled when someone comes up behind him and taps his shoulder. He lets out a squeal, jumping up and turning to face the little blond boy standing behind him. Once the boy sees he has Octavius' attention, he starts talking a mile a minute and Octavius – who doesn't really speak any English besides a few formalities and polite words – can do nothing but blink dumbly at him. The boy slows to a pause when he realizes he's not being understood and Octavius is too embarrassed to stick around so he does the only thing that seems logical. He picks his ball up from the floor and runs off inside his home, leaving the other boy looking very confused as he stood on the yard and watched Octavius run off.

He nearly topples into his grandmother as he runs in. She reaches down to pick him up, patting the top of his curls. "August, why are you running, my dear boy?" she asks, looking at him curiously.

"The boy outside, Nana." Octavius answers sheepishly. "He was talking funny so… I left." Now that he had to explain himself, it all sounded quite foolish.

"Oh, that must be little Jedediah! He's the neighbor's boy. Just your age. Why don't you go outside again and go play with him." She sets him back down on the floor, ruffling his hair.

"But, Nana! I won't understand him!" Octavius insists as his Nana took his hand and leads him outside. It seemed Jedediah had already gone back home, so he was lead over to the neighbor's door.

"Oh, that doesn't matter! I'll tell him your name, I'll tell you his and then you won't need much else to get along and play. You might even learn a word or two!" She knocks on the door and starts talking in English when someone opens it, leaving Octavius completely lost. He could understand his name here and there – August, instead of Octavius, much to his dismay – and Jedediah's name here and there. Said blond boy pops up after a few moments, looking overjoyed to see Octavius back again. His Nana introduces them and explains that Octavius can't quite speak English yet and before he knows it, Octavius is being dragged off by Jedediah to play.

Though he goes into the whole thing with a pout planted firmly on his face, wanting to let his mother know just how much he hated having left his home, when he goes back to his Nana's house for dinner that evening, he can't stop talking about how much fun he'd had and how he can't wait to meet Jedediah again the next day to play.

For all the complaining he'd done when he'd arrived, Octavius quickly grew fond of his new home. Largely because of the friend he's made in Jedediah. The very best friend Octavius has ever had. Even better than those back home in Rome. Octavius has just turned eight - has already lived here for almost as long as he'd lived in Rome, certainly remembers more of this country than of Italy – and he's spent practically every day since arriving with Jedediah and somehow they still go on wonderful adventures together. And it's even better now that they can actually understand each other, unlike their first few months together.

Jedediah runs into his best friend's house shortly after dinner – both families had quickly learned it was futile to try to keep them apart and that it was better to leave the doors unlocked during the day than to have little boys struggling to climb in and out their windows – and barely even says a hello before he's taken Octavius by the hand and dragged him out the back door.

Octavius laughs breathlessly as he follows him. " _Jed!_ Where are we going?" He knows he's going to follow regardless of what Jed answers, but he'd at the very least like to know beforehand. He's not adventurous enough to dive in headfirst without the slightest of clues.

"My cousin's grounded!" Jed exclaims, rounding the block and leading them to his cousin's house, gesturing for Octavius to be quiet as they hopped on over the fence and onto his aunt and uncle's backyard.

Octavius looks rather confused. "And this is good news because…?"

"Because, doofus, there's no one to share his tree house with!" Jed explains, grinning at him as he climbs on up to the tree house in the corner of the yard.

"Oh! You're right." Octavius grins, following him up. While Jed's cousin was great, but it could get annoying to share and it was much more fun when it was just the two of them.

Octavius climbs up and plops down onto the floor, giggling giddily. Jed has gone to man the pirate ship wheel by the tree house's window, looking incredibly serious as he did so. With a sly grin on his face, Octavius grabs a dusty cowboy hat from a corner of the room – the only hat he could see around here – and stands up to put it down on his friend's head. It sits proudly atop Jed's unruly hair for just a moment before falling down onto his face and covering his eyes, sending both boys into giggles.

"What was that for?" Jed asks, tilting the hat up so he can see again. He has one hand keeping the hat up and the other on the steering wheel, keeping their imaginary pirate ship on course.

"It's your pirate hat!" Octavius explains. "You can't be a pirate without a pirate hat. And I won't have any of my cabin boys without their proper uniform."

Jed nods for a moment before realizing what Octavius is implying. "Hey!" Jed laughs, jumping back from the steering wheel and picking up a wooden sword from the floor. "I'm not a cabin boy! I'm the Captain and you're my… You're my prisoner!" he declared, prodding at Octavius' chest with the dull point of the toy sword until the other boy sits down.

"Your prisoner?" he asks, laughing and shaking his head. "No, no! No way I'm your prisoner. How would you even capture me in the first place?"

"Easy!" Jed crouches down in front of him, flashing a grin of crooked teeth. "You're part of some stuffy Navy and since I'm a pirate, I was having none of it. And I sunk your ship and took you prisoner."

"Well…" Octavius takes a moment to think his plan of attack through before reaching forward and tugging the cowboy hat down over his friend's eyes. Jed cries out in protest and Octavius takes the moment to jump up to his feet and take the toy sword away. He pushes Jed down onto the floor and stands over him triumphantly. "Now my _stuffy Navy_ has come back to save me and now you're my prisoner!"

Jed pouts, huffing a little as he tilts the hat back once more to look up at Octavius. "Fine. You win this time, _Gus_." He smirks, sticking his tongue out. He knows how much Octavius hates that name and especially that nickname.

"Oh, well, know I'll have to punish you for using that name!" Octavius threatens, kneeling down in front of his friend with a half hearted scowl.

"What're you gonna do? Hit me with that wooden sword of yours?" Jed teases, grinning because he knows that there's very little his friend can actually do.

"I'll… I'll…" Octavius has to think for a moment. What _could_ he do? In the end, he's not sure what brings him to say what he does, but it's the best thing he can think of. "I'll kiss you! And then you'll have cooties."

He doesn't hesitate to lean forward and press their lips together for a rather clumsy moment before Jed's hat falls down and hits both their noses. They fall apart, laughing uncontrollably and thinking nothing of the kiss. Jed takes the hat off and gets back up to his feet.

"You may have given me cooties, but you'll never catch me alive!" Jed cries, racing down the ladder and back down to solid ground. He's laughing loudly, no longer caring if his aunt and uncle hearing him. They're on their way out anyway.

Octavius laughs, tossing the wooden sword aside and racing down after him. The kiss – which Octavius had meant as nothing, but couldn't help but feel some butterflies at – was already forgotten, not to be mentioned, or even thought of, for years to come.

 **A/N: The fic title and the chapter titles come from the Taylor Swift song, Mary's Song. This is a three part story and I'll put chapter 2 tomorrow and chapter 3 the day after. Whether you'r reading this for the first time or rereading after reading it over on AO3, I hope you enjoy!**


	2. Your Eyes Still Shined Like Pretty Light

The next time Octavius kisses anyone, he's thirteen, just a few weeks shy of fourteen. He's grown into an awkward, lanky boy, just at the edge of puberty. He hasn't quite grown into his limbs yet and it seems he has all the downsides of teenage hormones right now, from a face full of acne to a cracking voice. It's only made worse by the fact that Jed, who he's still best friends with after all these years, seems to grow only more and more handsome with every passing day. He's by no means a man yet, but it was already obvious that Jed would be all rough edges and sharp angles in a few years while so far it seems that Octavius would be skinny and awkward for the rest of his days.

This presents two crises that, to a boy in eighth grade, seem like the end of the world. The first is a universal teenage worry that his awkwardness won't go away. How is he supposed to go into _high school_ looking like he does? High school is supposed to be where everything was wonderful and great, not where he looked like a twig and had a much more attractive best friend to steal the attention. The second crisis, far more worrisome for Octavius, is how naturally it comes to him to refer to Jed as attractive and handsome and cute and countless other thoughts that he was constantly holding back.

Friends weren't supposed to think that other friends were attractive. Octavius knows that. Especially when said friend was another boy. Octavius isn't sure when he'd started thinking of Jed like this. All he knows is that from what felt like one day to the next, even just thinking about Jed gets his stomach full of butterflies and his palms sweaty with love-struck nerves. Octavius has the biggest crush on Jed and he absolutely hates it. He's terrified of losing his friend because he's _weird_ and Octavius does everything in his power to keep from thinking about Jed like that. Whenever he starts thinking of his friend like that, he immediately pushes it away and he's determined that eventually they'll stop all together. But, of course, they don't. Instead, when he's trying to keep from thinking about Jed he realizes that while Jed makes it the strongest, there's a handful of other boys at school that get his palms sweaty and his stomach doing flip flops. And on top of everything, he's _still_ having all sorts of thoughts about Jed.

Thirteen is a difficult age and it's even more difficult when trying to understand all these sorts of emerging feelings. Octavius tries and tries to convince himself that it'll pass and this is how he winds up at some stupid party. He's the type to prefer a night in, with snacks and books and maybe a movie or two. Jed, however, loves going out and so they compromise, alternating what they do on the weekends so they can both enjoy themselves. Jed almost always lets Octavius leave the parties early, but this time, Octavius is determined to stay. Their entire grade is at an age where they're beginning to act upon crushes, albeit a bit awkwardly. Despite how awkward he may feel at times, Octavius does play several sports – some of which he has to admit he only joined for Jed – and so, he knows he's got at least one or two girls who would at the very least dance with him. Maybe if he tried to at least kiss a girl he would forget all this nonsense about Jed and liking boys.

Jedediah notices something is off the moment he comes to pick up Octavius so they can head out. He's staring at his friend oddly the entire walk and Octavius feels progressively more awkward about being under scrutiny. "What? Why're you staring?" Octavius asks, grumbling a little as he looks over at him.

"You look all nervous." Jed explains. "What's up? There's no point in going out if you're all upset about something."

"It's nothing, Jed." He frowns. It's upsetting how obvious it is that he's nervous about the night. He's only aiming at dancing with a girl and maybe trying for a kiss. He was sure Jed had done it countless times. Of course Jed has kissed girls before. He's the cutest boy in school and – oh. There he goes again. It seems tonight is more important than he previously thought.

Jed snorts, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure. We can go back whenever you want, okay? We can head back to my place for the night and watch movies and all those other lame things you like do."

Coming from anyone else, Octavius may have found the words harsh, but Jed said them with the sweetest of smiles on his face and how could anyone possibly resist a boy like that? Octavius certainly can't. He's glad it's already beginning to darken. That way, Jed can't see the way his ever reddening face. "I'll keep that in mind."

Jed grins at him and then ushers him into Nick Daley's house, where there's already a large crowd of kids from their class and music playing on some speakers. Jed hangs around Octavius for a while, before going off in search of a girl he has a crush on. Octavius watches him go with a sigh, feeling a bit awkward. How was one meant to ask a girl to dance? He's seen Jed do it lots of times and it always seemed to come naturally to his friend, but when Octavius tries, he's nervous and painfully shy. In the end, he gathers up a few seconds of courage and gets Wea, a pretty girl he takes English with, to dance with him.

She's sweet and she makes Octavius feel a bit better about the whole thing, but he can only imagine how awkward he must look. He's doing his best not to, but he feels terribly stiff when he tries to dance with her and he only feels more unsure by the second. Octavius supposes it must be showing. Wea pulls back after a while and leans forward, giving him a shy kiss before going back over to her group of friends. It wasn't much, just a quick touch of lips that had been over in a second or two as most. But for Octavius it feels like his world is crashing down around him.

He feels exactly the same as before, only now he's a million times surer that he would have preferred to be kissing a boy. Preferably Jed. Now, instead of magically starting to like girls like Octavius had hoped, now he's more convinced than ever of the opposite. It's an absolute nightmare. To make matters worse, he can feel Wea and her friends staring at him as he goes to the kitchen and gets himself some water. Octavius pours himself some water and goes to stand in a corner, torn between avoiding every single though running through his head and running home right now to go sit on his bed and dream up every possible worst case scenario. It's here, in a corner of the Daley's kitchen with a death grip on a glass of water and a blank stare at the wall ahead of him, that Jed finds him a few minutes later.

" _Dude!_ " Jed has a grin so wide that Octavius almost fears he's going to split his face in half. He claps Octavius on the shoulder, much like a proud father might. "I heard you just kissed Wea! That's super rad."

Jed had heard about that already? Octavius groans mentally and puts on a smile so fake, it's a miracle Jed doesn't call him out on it on the spot. "Uh huh… Listen, I think I'm gonna go home. I, uh, don't feel too good. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Jed rolls his eyes, throwing an arm around Octavius' shoulder and steering him towards the front door. "Nope. You'll see me right now. We can go back to my place and watch movies until the early hours of the morning. I already talked to your mom before we left. She says you can stay until Monday, if you like."

Octavius smiles shyly and wonders what he ever did to deserve a friend like Jed. "Are you sure? I don't want to keep you from your fun." It's obvious that he's only offering to be polite, but he'd feel bad if he didn't at least pretend that he wanted Jed to stay and have fun.

"I'll have _way_ more fun going home and spending time with my best friend than here." Jed promises, only waving goodbye to a few people before they're out on the sidewalk and walking home. Octavius often misses the sprawling metropolis that is Rome – he barely remembers living there, but his mother takes them to visit family quite often – but he's grown to love this small town. Everything is a walk away and his mother doesn't care if he's out walking by himself. That freedom alone is worth having left the city behind.

There's a bit of chat while they walk back to Jed's house but it's the type of talk that's so unimportant, they won't even remember it in a few hours. Octavius is glad for the distraction because all he can think about is his earlier realization that he likes boys the way Jed likes girls. It's not that he hates himself for it or thinks it's wrong or anything, he just… hates how this will complicate things. He doesn't want people getting upset at him and the thought that Jed might not want to be his friend anymore is terrifying. He pushes that thought away almost as soon as he thinks it.

They get to Jed's house soon enough. Jed's mother greets him as though he were her son as well and Octavius can't help but wonder if any of this would change. As Jed grabs his hand and drags him up to his room, he hopes not. It would kill him to lose this little second family of his.

"What're we gonna watch first?" Jed asks, closing the door and changing into his pajamas. Octavius distracts himself by changing as well. There were always some of his clothes lying about in Jed's room.

"I dunno. Put on some TV series or something." Octavius shrugs. "We can binge watch until dawn." He laughs, pulling on his pajama pants and a t-shirt and going to sit on Jed's bed.

Jed grins, nodding as he puts something on and goes to sit next to Octavius. "You gonna text Wea later?" he asks, while waiting for the DVD to load. "Because she has the hugest crush on you."

"…she does?" Octavius feels a bit guilty now. He doesn't want her to think too much of any of tonight and he feels guilty at the thought that she might.

Jed nods. "Oh, yeah, man. Teddy absolutely hates you 'cause of it." He laughs, looking through the episodes to play the one they'd left on.

"Oh."

Jed gets the hint to drop it and for hours they do nothing but watch their show together and make the occasional comment about it. There's usually more joking around in their sleep overs, but Jed's good at knowing when it's just better to let things be quiet. It's nearly four in the morning and in between episodes when Octavius speaks up again. They've been moving around all night long and by now, they're both stretched out together, lying next to one another and dangling their heads off the foot off the bed to see the television better. They're both exhausted and too hard headed to go to bed and the sleepiness makes Octavius loose tongued and brave enough to get things of his chest.

"Jed... Can I tell you something?" he asks, frowning as he sits up on the bed and pauses the next episode in the opening credits.

"Yeah, of course." Jed nods. He sits up cross legged next to Octavius, looking at him. "You finally gonna tell me what's been bothering you all night?"

Octavius struggles for a few moments, unsure what to say or how to start. Was there even a correct protocol for these sort of things? Finally, he just blurts it out. "I think I'm gay."

Jed stares at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Yeah, man. Of course you are. Was that at all you wanted to tell me?" Jed looks thoroughly amused at the fact that Octavius felt the need to announce this.

"Wait… what?" Octavius sputters, frowning. "What do you mean 'of course I am'? You already knew?"

"Dude. I've known since we were like seven. What type of best friend would I be if I didn't realize how obviously gay you are?" he asks, still laughing. "This is kind of perfect, though. You can talk to Wea and guide her in Teddy's direction. And girls always listen to gay guys."

Octavius isn't sure what to say for a minute. There he'd been, struggling al night to both come to terms with it and tell Jed, and his friend had known all along. "Well, why didn't you tell me if you've known for so long?" he demands, pouting.

"Aww, I'm sorry, bro." Jed laughs, ruffling his hair. "I figured you already knew. Thanks for telling me, though. I'm glad you trust me."

Now Octavius can't help but smile, forgetting that he was even upset in the first place. "You're my best friend. Of course I told you."

Jed smiles and leans over to hug him, patting his back. "We're friends no matter what. Until the very end."

Octavius smiles as he hugs him back, wondering how he'd lucked out with the very best friend in the world. He had been silly to worry. He knows that now. And if it means keeping his best friend, Octavius is willing to hide his crush forever and ever. And so, he does just that.

 **A/N: I'm an idiot and I forgot to put this up lmao sorry but here it is**


	3. After All This Time, You and I

For Octavius, high school goes far better than expected. His family can't care less that he's gay and it goes over surprisingly well with his schoolmates. He struggles to remember why he ever worried. Instead of the train wreck Octavius had dreamt up, he gets more than he could have ever expected. While he still holds his feelings for Jedediah secret, he'd dated Lance, the absolutely gorgeous quarterback of the school's football team, for nearly all of sophomore and junior year.

Octavius remembers those two years fondly. They'd been fun and Lance had been nothing but sweet, but he was no Jed. Even now, after so many years, Octavius still harbors an enormous crush on his best friend. He hasn't told Jed and he has no plans to. Soon, they will both be deciding where they will be going for university and although they have gotten into a few of the same places, they've both agreed not to let the other influence the decision. They've even agreed not to tell one another until the decisions have been made. At times, Octavius hopes they will decide on the same school. That the fates will be on his side so he can keep his best friend. He has to remind himself constantly that if they part ways, they will always have their hometown to come back to and being away will mean he'll have a chance to get over his stupid crush and move on. Octavius will make new friends after he graduates and enjoy his freedom and perhaps find himself a new Lance. In theory, it's perfect. In practice, however… Octavius has begun to hate the sunset, because it marks yet another day crossed off the countdown until they graduate and leave.

It doesn't help that it seems every single senior at school – Octavius joins in sometimes, he's ashamed to admit – is determined in pointing out every single last in their high school career. No matter how ridiculous it may be. Sure, it might be justifiable talking endlessly about how it's their last Christmas in high school or their last spring break or any other milestone of the school year, but now it's gotten to the point where they'll point out every last thing and present it as though it were some sort of Last-Supper-esque moment. For Octavius, it starts getting a bit too ridiculous when he hears some girls lamenting on how it's their very last March 23rd in high school. That had been a bit too much, even for him.

Still, he is painfully aware that their time in school together was drawing to a close. Octavius isn't even sure how it'll feel. He's lived here his whole life, save for four years he can't remember. No matter how much he tries, he can't wrap his head around the thought of not having Jed living right next to him, of walking to school with him every day, of having the warm comfort of knowing that even when they weren't spending time together, Jed was always right next door. Octavius just can't imagine daily life without Jed around. It's killing him inside and Octavius knows it's affecting Jed as well.

"Do you think we'll still talk as much? When we both leave, I mean." Jed brings it up out of nowhere one day, as they're walking from school back to Octavius' place.

Octavius frowns, digging his hands into his pockets and looking at the sidewalk ahead of them to avoid looking at his friend. "I dunno… I hope so, but… who knows, man?"

Jed sighs, nodding. "Yeah, you're right. It sucks, though, doesn't it? To think we'll be leaving soon and after fourteen years of being best friends, we might… drift apart."

Octavius bumps their shoulders together and gives him a look. "Let's not think about that. It might not even happen! And even if it does… well, we don't have to think about it just yet, okay?"

"All right, all right. I'll shut up about it." He promises. They walk along in silence for a few moments before Jed makes the startled noise he always makes when he has one of his _ideas._ Octavius groans because this can only mean one thing. Sure enough, a moment later Jed grabs Octavius' hand and drags him along behind him as he runs off somewhere. Octavius realizes after a moment that they're headed to Jed's aunt and uncle's backyard and Jed is halfway up the stairs of his cousin's old treehouse before Octavius processes it. Jed looks back down at him with a huge grin. "Well? Aren't you coming?"

Octavius laughs, looking up at him in disbelief. "Jedediah Smith, we are eighteen years old. We can't go play in a treehouse!"

"We can and we shall!" Jed declares, climbing up the rest of the way. He sticks his head out a window when he's at the top and grins down at Octavius. "I'm going to have a blast up here. With or without you."

Octavius shakes his head in amusement and climbs up after him. "You're absolutely ridiculous." he tells him, sitting down.

Jed smiles, sitting down next to him. "This place used to be a lot taller and a lot bigger. I'm sure of it." he says, picking up the old wooden sword they used to play with and twirling it about in his hands.

"Well, we used to be a lot smaller." Octavius points out, smiling. It had been ages since they'd been up here and it brought back plenty of fond memories.

"Yeah, that's true." Jed shrugs. He leans over and picks up a beat up cowboy hat that Octavius remembers having played with almost every time they came up here. He plops it on his head with a bright grin. "Do I look like a cowboy, Oc?"

He smiles, nodding. "Yes… You must certainly do." he told him, nodding. "Why, if I were your parents, I'd be afraid of you picking everything up and running away. You fit the image very well."

Jed grins. "Perfect." he says. "If I ran away to become a cowboy, would you come with me? It wouldn't be the same if I didn't have my best friend with me!"

Octavius knows he's joking, but he's still nodding. "Of course. I think I'd be an absolutely terrible cowboy, but I suppose I could give it a shot for you."

Jed smiles. He takes the hat off and puts it down on Octavius's head. "There. You look like a cowboy too." he assures him. He smiles nostalgically, looking around and scratching the back of his head. "You remember when you kissed me here? So I'd get cooties and die?"

Octavius turns bright red. He hadn't remembered that, but he certainly does know. He remembers perfectly and he wants to die of embarrassment. He supposes even at eight years old, he'd been falling hard for Jed. "Um… Um… Um… Yeah, I do remember that." he mumbles, nodding. He keeps his gaze planted firmly on the floor.

Laughing, Jed reaches over and tilts his chin back up so Octavius has no choice but to look at him. "Mind if I get my revenge for that now?" he asks, leaning in closer.

Octavius blushes. Jed isn't implying… is he? No, he can't be. Oh, but it certainly looks like he is. His voice doesn't seem to be working and all he can do is nod weakly. It's enough for Jed who closes the distance between them and gives him the gentlest of kisses. Octavius is dead. He's either dead or dreaming. That's the only explanation he can come up with for why Jed is kissing him. Regardless, he doesn't question it for long as he takes his chance and kisses him back.

When they pull back, Octavius giggles breathlessly. "Holy shit. What was that?" he asks, almost in a daze as he looks up at him.

"It was a kiss, you doofus. What did you think it was?" Jed teases, smirking.

Octavius rolls his eyes and whacks his arm. "I know what it literally was. I meant what you meant by it, stupid." The names they call each other hold very little bite as they both say them with fond smiles and jesting tones.

"I, well, I like you. Like like you, if you don't mind me sounding like an elementary schooler." Jed says sheepishly, shrugging. "And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you kinda like like me too, right?"

He blushes, shrugging. "I dunno. Maybe I do." Octavius mumbles. Jed gives him a look and Octavius sighs and nods. "Yeah, I do. That obvious?"

"No. I just know you very well." Jed tells him. He takes Octavius' hand and gives it a shy squeeze. "I, uh, I know we're going to be leaving soon and it kinda sucks to start something when there's a countdown on the calendar, but I'd really love it if we could, I dunno, go out or something. Even if it is just for a few months."

"If you'll shut up about time running out… then yeah, I'd definitely love to." Octavius smiles, nodding.

"Awesome." Jed grins, pulling Octavius closer to kiss him again.

Octavius wants to worry about how little time they have left. He wants to worry about how much more it'll hurt when thy have to part ways in September. He wants to worry about what their parents will think. He wants to worry. But he finds that he can't. Because right now, with Jed's arm wrapped around his waist and his hand in his hair as they kiss… Octavius can't bring himself to give a damn about September. So long as Jed is here to kiss him until then, the world can throw whatever it wants at him. Octavius is perfectly fine, sitting up here in a rickety old treehouse and kissing the boy he's loved for years. Up here, Octavius' life is perfect.


End file.
